Abstract: Efforts to promote bat conservation must consider ways to communicate with the public about a potentially risk-laden species. We examined current wildlife and public health agency press releases about bats in eight states from 2006-2013.

Findings indicate that public health agencies focused more on human health risks, such as rabies, while rarely mentioning white-nose syndrome (WNS), a disease causing precipitous declines in seven species, including two federally endangered species, of bats in the eastern United States.

Wildlife agencies focused more on WNS with less mention of rabies. These disparities even existed in states with major WNS outbreaks where additional bat species may soon be listed as endangered.

Overall, the inconsistent messages reveal competing priorities of public health and wildlife agencies. Further research needs to examine how the public receives and reacts to potentially conflicting messages from such agencies and the popular media.

This work underscores the need to carefully develop and align communication messages across agencies to promote recovery and conservation for bat species facing an uncertain future due to WNS.